1925
That our group constitutes a "Great Class" is again confirmed by a note to Ford Whelden from President Dickey reading as follows: "As I have reviewed the magnificent record of alumni participation in the Capital Gifts Campaign I have noticed that the Class of 1925 was one of the five to exceed a total contribution of $400,000. May I simply express through you the admiration and gratitude which I am sure all Dartmouth men feel toward those who played such a conspicuous part in this great Dartmouth achievement."
In admirable response to Ford's closing plea for news in his report on "A Decade of Progress," Charlie Haywood, lawyer and author of note, penned the following words:
It (the report) says that scores and scores of us have not been heard from in years. This reminds me of the Rudyard Kipling story about the four Englishmen in India who rode in from distant posts once a month for a friendly poker game. If one did not appear, the others promptly saddled up and went out to his post to see if (a) he had been bitten by a cobra; (b) lay grievously ill with cholera; (c) had been murdered by his Hindu servant; or (d) had gone native and taken to the jungle. Now, a moral is to be found in the story. Such things could happen to members of the Class of 1925 and, so that it may be discovered promptly and a rescue party organized, we all should write regularly to Eddie Pease. ...
Now, so that your mind may be at peace as to me and so I will not add to your burdens, permit me to state: 1. I am practicing law in Boston and its vicinity and do my day's work with wills and deeds and contracts and settlement of estates and tax returns and various court actions. I cannot state my address here, not that it is a dark secret, but to do so might be construed to be crass commercial advertising. 2. I have become a sporting character. On weekends I play golf at Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead. A catalogue of my trophies will be furnished without charge to any member of 1925 who applies for same. 3. Not only do I play golf, but I scribble and have had published this year a novel entitled "Eastward The Sea." This is an adventure sea story unfortunately lacking in adulteries, illegitimate children and characters who lose their minds. ...
Bob Palmer, partner, Kinney, Palmer, Goodell & Kenney, Springfield, Mass., has successfully completed the requirements for a CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter) designation. A diploma was awarded to him at a luncheon attended by Tippy Tower.
Parker Merrow's picture (sans identification) appeared recently in a "Portrait of Ageless New England," a pictorial in "Friends" magazine, which depicted "descendants of the self-reliant colonists who conquered' a harsh and inhospitable region" and who "have character shaped by their homeland - proud, vigorous, independent of spirit." A critical analysis of the picture, however, leads us to wonder how come the editor of a paper happens to be sitting before what appears to be a typewriter while speaking into the mike of a dictating machine!
Larry Leavitt reports he and Dot were planning to be with the Bill Jenkins in Greenwich during the Yale game weekend and that they would be entertaining the Jenkins and Haffenreffers at Norwich during the Cornell game weekend. He writes further: "This August Dot and I had a delightful five-day cruise with the Jenkins on their yawl. We started out at Falmouth and ended up at Greenwich. We hadn't done anything like that before and found it very enjoyable."
Guests of Ann and June Chamberlain at their fabulous home in Weston after the satisfying defeat of Harvard were: Haven and Eddie Blake, up from New Jersey not only for the football game but also to see the play of their son David, Dartmouth junior soccer star, at Cambridge the previous day; Gertie and Ford Whelden, who vie with your scribe each fall to see who goes to the most number of football games; Ham Thayer, who for the second consecutive year elected to listen to the game on the radio in the romantic comfort of a fireside instead of venturing into the dampness of Pluvius' elements; and finally the oversigned. Haven indicated that they and the Browns would be guests of the Hal Elders during the last weekend of October, incidentally to see son Tommy who plays on the Amherst soccer team, also son Peter, who is a senior at Deerfield Academy.
In the Dartmouth tent prior to the Yale game we met Nort Canfield, smoking a corncob pipe, with Frances and son, James; Homer Tilton, bedecked in a raccoon coat without benefit of head cover to protect him against the rain which started shortly before game time. And, lo and behold, sitting next to your scribe on the fifty-yard line were Gertie and Ford Whelden, the former in a continuous debate with herself on the question of tolerating further the abominable weather; the latter alternately wiping his glasses with an endless supply of kerchiefs and paper and witnessing a gratifying performance by the team through rain-covered lenses. But all are agreed the results were worth it.
"New Hampshire's last frontier, the vast wilderness of Coos county and the Connecticut Lakes, has at last found an articulate, brilliant and witty chronicler in Dr. Robert E. Pike," writes Dr. George Woodbury of the N. H. Sunday News of Manchester, N. H., in reviewing "Spiked Boots" which has just appeared in print. It is a "series of first hand anecdotes about this almost unknown North Country, written in the form of something halfway between essay and short story" he continues and "is a book that no one interested in New Hampshire - and in good writing - can afford to miss." Bob is both the author and publisher of the book which is privately printed and obtainable only from him at his Eatontown, N. J., address.
In the last mail prior to the mailing of these notes, came a letter from Mary Hill expressing thanks for her invitation to the reunion and reporting that "our daughter, Polly, was married last June to a Dartmouth 1957 graduate, Jack Forcier. He is in his last year of Harvard Medical School now."
It's a bit difficult to acquire a spirit of Christmas in the midst of the football season; but that's what editors are up against in having to meet deadlines. So on behalf of your officers and executive committee this opportunity (of which there will be no other) is seized to extend to you and yours best wishes for a delightful Yuletide and a highly profitable New Year.
Talking with Chief Justice Earl Warren at a reception in Karlsruhe, Germany, is Dean Chamberlin '26 (1), public affairs officer of the American Consulate in Stuttgart.
Secretary, 225 Wyman St., Waltham 54, Mass.
Treasurer, R.R. 1, Box 134, Chester, N. J.
